


Rising to the challenge

by JenJo



Series: 52 Short Stories in 52 Weeks [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Domestic Avengers, Fluff, Team Bonding, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 21:47:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5718283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenJo/pseuds/JenJo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six adults, different backgrounds, different views. The only unifying trait? They saved the world together. So living together shouldn’t be a problem, right?</p>
<p>Thor is always flying off at all hours (and never quietly.)<br/>Tony spends more time out of the tower than in it (business meetings, press dates.)<br/>Natasha is Always watching you (even when she’s not in the tower.)<br/>Bruce is only seen getting food (never spends social time around others.)<br/>Steve spends most hours in the gym, burning off excess energy (and the other hours are spent eating, or sitting on the roof.)<br/>Clint thought that this would be his first chance to have a proper family in… well, ever. So he’ll be damned if he lets these people exist merely as co workers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rising to the challenge

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place in that magical time post Avengers and pre phase 2, with the team living in the tower.

 

“Come on Bruce, it’ll be fun.”

Bruce looked up at Clint from his cooking, and gave the man a small smile. “I’m sure that it will be. But I won’t be there.”

“Why not?” Clint turned on his best puppy dog eyes. Bruce shook his head, looking back down at his cooking.

“I am much more comfortable alone. Can’t hurt anyone if I’m alone.”

“Bruce, buddy,” Clint stood next to Bruce, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You won’t hurt anyone. You’re in control.”

“But the helicarrier-”

“You were influenced by Loki. You weren’t yourself. Don’t isolate yourself, come and have a night of fun. If it gets too much, you can leave. But at least show up?”

Bruce breathed out, before looking at Clint again. “If you’re happy to run the risk-”

“No risk.”

“...Fine. I’ll be there.”

Clint used the hand on Bruce’s shoulder to pull the man into a half hug. “Thanks buddy.”

Clint got up to leave, and was at the door before Bruce spoke.

“When is this night of fun?”

Clint paused in the doorway, and shrugged at Bruce. “I’ll let you know when I do,” he smiled, before leaving the room.

_ One down, four to go. _

 

~~~~~

 

“It’s a tradition here on earth. Weekly meetings, if you will. We share stories from our pasts, often of a humorous nature. We also partake in local culture, by the way of food and entertainment. Fun is had by all.” 

Thor raised an eyebrow at Clint, folding his arms over his chest. “A tradition, you say?”

Clint kept his easy smile, projecting an air of confidence. “Yep.”

“I have spent some time on this planet now, yet I am yet to hear of this tradition.”

Clint nodded. “I understand that. Have you spent much time around the warriors of Earth?”

Thor thought for a moment, before shaking his head. Clint smiled, spreading his hands wide.

“Well, there you go. How would you know the traditions of warriors if you have not spent time among them?”

Thor nodded, running a hand over his chin. “Entertainment?”

“We call them films.”

"Humorous stories?"

"Most certainly."

“And the team will be there?”

“Yep.”  _ More or less. _

Thor nodded again, before standing up. “Then I shall be there also. Please advise me when you have the date.”

Clint stood up to, nodding. “Of course. You’ll be the first to know.”

“Thank you, my friend. Now, I must take my leave. I have matters to attend to in Montana.”

Clint offered a wave. “Have fun.”

Thor smiled in reply, before leaving the room.

_ Two down, three to go.  _ Clint smiled to himself, before frowning.  _ What could Thor be doing in Montana? _

 

~~~~~

 

“Hey Steve, mind if I join you?” Clint sat down next to Steve, on the roof of Avengers Tower. ( _ Yes Tony, it’s Avengers Tower. If the team lives here, it’s not being called Stark Tower. _

_ It's Stark Tower if it says Stark on the side. _

_ But it doesn't say Stark on the side. _

_....Shut up Barton.) _

“It’s a free country,” Steve sat up a bit straighter, offering a smile to Clint. Clint returned the smile, sitting down next to Steve. The pair sat in silence for a minute, before Clint rolled his head to face Steve.

“So, how would you feel about a weekly team bonding session?”

Steve, who had been watching the skyline, turned his head to face Clint, eyebrow raised in question. “And what would this bonding session entail, exactly?”

Clint shrugged. “Movies, food. Bonding type things.”

“And we need bonding type things why?”

Clint rolled his eyes. “Because this team doesn’t act like a team. I think that we should.”

Steve sighed, looking back at the skyline. “I can’t argue with that. We are six solitary folks. Can’t be forced into liking each other.”

“Not saying that it’d be forced. I think that if we give it a chance though? We could be a better team.”

Steve thought for a moment. “A team that cares for each other does function better,” he muttered to himself, before offering a hand to Clint. “Sounds like a plan. Are you organising everything?”

“I am,” Clint shook Steve’s hand, almost having his hand crushed. He didn’t show the pain though. “I’ll let you know when I have a date. Thanks Steve,” Clint stood up, leaving Steve to watch the skyline.

“Any time Clint.”

Clint smiled to himself as he rode the elevator back down the tower.

_ Three down, two to go. This is going much easier than I could have hoped for. _

 

~~~~~

 

“I’m busy,” was Tony’s response as he walked past Clint. 

“You won’t be on Tuesday night.” Clint shrugged. Tony looked at Clint over the top of his sunglasses.

“I’m sure that I will be.”

Clint smiled, before replying. “I already checked with Ms Potts. She has assured me that after your board meeting concludes at six pm, you will be free to stay in at the tower until your interview at eleven am on Wednesday.”

Tony took off his sunglasses, and raised an eyebrow at Clint. “You checked with Pepper?”

“You wouldn’t answer my texts, and you haven’t been around the tower lately.”

Tony nodded, thinking for a moment. “Sure, why not? You’re clearly going to a lot of effort to organise this shindig. I’d hate to be the one to spoil your fun.”

Clint smiled. “Thank you.”

Tony returned the smile, before putting his sunglasses back on. “See you Tuesday.”

Clitn rubbed his hands together in joy.

_ Four down, one to go. I can’t believe that this is going to happen. _

 

~~~~~

 

Clint should’ve realised that his luck wouldn’t hold out. Out of the team, he thought that Natasha would be the easiest to persuade into attending. He’d known her for years, after all. But the woman wasn’t to be found. According to JARVIS, she wasn’t in the building, and according to SHIELD she wasn’t on assignment.

_ As if SHIELD would tell me anything,  _ Clint thought to himself bitterly, sitting alone at the “team’s” dining table..

“You really shouldn’t frown, you already have enough wrinkles on your face.”

Clint absolutely did not jump at the sudden voice, looking up at amused green eyes.

“Nat, where have you been? I’ve been trying to find you for three days.”

Nat slid into a seat opposite Clint, and raised an eyebrow in question. “On assignment.”

Clint frowned at her. “SHIELD said you weren’t on assignment.”

Natasha gave a small smile. “Who said that it was a SHIELD assignment?”

Clint rolled his eyes. “Fine, don’t tell me.”

“Why have you been looking for me?”

“I’ve organised a team bonding night. Tonight. Everyone will be there.”

“You,” Natasha pointed at Clint. “Organised something?”

“Oh ha ha,” he said, causing Natasha to smile. “I am capable of organisation when required.”

“And what required this?”

“We’re a team only in name. We got lucky. If we had to work together again, we’d be too liable to falling apart. We need to bond, act like a team. For our sakes, as well as the world's.”

Natasha nodded. “Wise words, Hawkeye. Can’t believe that they came from your mouth.”

“Love you too, Nat,” Clint rolled his eyes. Natasha smiled as she stood up, and walked past Clint. She took a moment to ruffle his hair, before leaving the room.

“Wait,” he turned to watch Natasha walk away. “Will you be there?”

He was given silence in response.

_ Alright, four down, one probably? Hopefully. We’ll see. _

 

~~~~~

 

At seven pm, Clint was standing in the middle of a circle of heroes. They had all shown up before seven, including Natasha. On the outside, Clint looked impressed. On the inside though, he was nervous. 

_ They’re all looking to me to lead. One wrong step Clint, and this all falls away. _

“Alright, first off, thank you for coming,” Clint smiled at the group, who offered small smiles in response.  _ When in doubt, act confident.  _ “As I’m sure you are all aware, we don’t act like a team. And that will cost us in the long term. So, to prevent that, I propose that we have these regular events, to build a sense of camaraderie amongst us.”

“Trying to put together a family?” Tony asked, still wearing a pair of sunglasses.  _ Did the man ever take them off? _

Clitn rubbed the back of his neck, before looking at his feet. “I’ve never had a family. Not really.” He looked back up at Tony. “We’re a team, but if we don’t care about each other out in battle? We’re a time bomb.”

Tony, who had been looking slightly forlorn, cracked a smile at Clint. He took off his sunglasses, and narrowed his eyes. “You weren’t there for that.”

“For what?” Clint was confused.

“Bruce referred to us as a time bomb.”

“With some influence,” Bruce added.

“I might not have been there,” Clint interrupted, glossing over  _ when  _ that conversation had occurred. “But it’s still accurate.”

“I was promised the exchange of humorous tales,” Thor, sensing the mood in the room, changed the topic. Not one to disappoint a prince, Steve spoke up.

“I once punched a horse.”

All eyes turned to Steve. Clint took a seat next to Natasha.

“What?” echoed around the room. Steve shrugged.

“There was a horse, working for the Red Skull. It had to be stopped.” Steve took a breath for dramatic purposes. “So I punched it.”

“Why wouldn’t you just punch the rider?” Tony asked. Steve turned to face him, expression deadly serious.

“Who said that there was a rider?”

“Because horses don’t just work for people. They have riders to control them.”

“There were a lot of strange things coming out of the Skull’s camps. Not all of them made sense. A telepathic horse was one of the less strange things.”

Tony looked at Steve critically, before shaking his head. “Nope, you’re making that up. Horses don’t work for people, and they’re certainly not psychic.”

“No, I’ve read about this,” Natasha offered. Everyone turned to her. “Before I worked for SHIELD, I came across some files on the Skull, some of the things that he did. The horse was named Eric. He was credited with a dozen successful missions within a week. Using his psychic abilities to get past the enemy.”

“That was a terrible week,” Steve shook his head at the memory. “He had to be stopped. So I stopped him.”

“Eric the horse?” Tony asked, disbelief evident on his face. “A dozen successful missions, psychic- no, I call bull.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you calling me a liar, Mr Stark?”

Tony blinked, and averted his eyes. “Oh, I know you’re a liar  _ Natalie _ . But in this instance?” Tony paused, searching both Steve and Natasha’s faces. Whatever he found in them, he shrugged. “Maybe not. Alright, I believe this. Steve punched a psychic horse named Eric, who worked for the Red Skull.”

Natasha nodded at Tony.

“I don’t believe it,” Bruce added. “I think this is a trick, and she’s using the fact that we wouldn’t question her to make us believe the story.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow at Bruce, but otherwise remained silent.

“Why would our Captain lie to us?” Thor asked.

Clint held a brief staring competition with Natasha, before sighing. “I guess we just found a game to play.”

“What?” Steve asked.

“Who can convince everyone else that a fake story is real, and a real story is fake.”

“Who said that I didn’t punch a horse?”

Clint smiled. “Oh, I’m sure that you punched a horse. But I don’t think it was named Eric. I think that it was an average horse.”

“But why would Natasha add to the story? They had no time to prepare,” Tony asked.

Clint looked at Tony, expression deadpan. “Because Natasha is evil.”

Steve burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, this was hilarious. Thank you Natasha.”

Natasha gave Steve a smile. “Anytime.”

Tony blinked, looking back and forth between the pair. “So, no Eric the horse?”

In between his laughter, Steve answered. “Of course not Tony! Really, you of all people believed that there was a psychic horse named Eric?”

Tony held up his hands in defense. “You and Natasha both seemed deadly serious.”

Natasha snorted. “Please, I’m a professional spy. I could make you believe anything.”

Tony conceded the point. “I must remember that.”

Clint turned to Steve. “There was some truth to that story though, wasn’t there?”

Steve nodded. “I did punch a horse, causing said horse to buck its rider. I stole the horse, and brought him back to camp. Never saw him again.”

“The best lies have some level of truth to them,” Bruce supplied.

“Alright, let's do this!” Tony clapped, drawing attention to himself. “Each person tells a story, and the rest vote on its validity.”

“Is there a prize?” Thor asked.

“Hilarity can be the prize. Who can convince people of lies, and who can lie about the truth? Who wants to go next?”

“My brother gave birth to an eight legged horse,” Thor said into the silence, perfectly straight faced. 

Five pairs of horrified eyes turned to him. 

As they questioned Thor, Clint smiled to himself, nodding at his team.  _ It’s a start, but it is a promising one. _

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.  
> Let me know what you think.  
> Next week: "A retelling of a fairytale." That one is going to be fun.


End file.
